Page 118 - BRAVE NEW WORLD By Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)

Brave New World By Aldous Huxley

Obediently, with all the others, Lenina and

Henry left the building. The depressing stars had

travelled quite some way across the heavens. But

though the separating screen of the sky-signs had

now to a great extent dissolved, the two young

people still retained their happy ignorance of the

night.

Swallowing half an hour before closing time,

that second dose of soma had raised a quite

impenetrable wall between the actual universe and

their minds. Bottled, they crossed the street;

bottled, they took the lift up to Henry's room on the

twenty-eighth floor. And yet, bottled as she was,

and in spite of that second gramme of soma, Lenina

did not forget to take all the contraceptive

precautions prescribed by the regulations. Years of

intensive hypnopædia and, from twelve to

seventeen, Malthusian drill three times a week had

made the taking of these precautions almost as

automatic and inevitable as blinking.

"Oh, and that reminds me," she said, as she

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